Stock Up, Stock Down: Turner Finding His Power, Seager Struggling

OAKLAND, CA - AUGUST 7: Justin Turner #10 of the Los Angeles Dodgers bats during the game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum on August 7, 2018 in Oakland, California. The Dodgers defeated the Athletics 4-2. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)

This is a new recurring series at Dodgers Nation where we will take an in-depth look at some of the hottest and coldest players on the major league roster.

As the Dodgers remain hot and head into the month of May, most of the offense has remained on fire.

Justin Turner, 3B

JT finally popped his first homer of the season against the Giants this week and overall, he has looked a lot better. Over the past week, his OPS was .881 with a 142 wRC+ which is a lot more JT-like. The home run was just the third of his entire career before May 1st, meaning that when the weather begins to heat up (soon), JT will heat up too.

Julio Urias, SP/RP

Despite a demotion to the bullpen, Urias has been nails. If the Dodgers intend to use the kid from Culiacán in a Josh Hader/Andrew Miller type of role, he could become an extremely valuable asset to a depleted Dodgers’ pen. Over the last two weeks, Urias tossed 10 innings of one-run ball while striking out a whopping sixteen batters.

Clayton Kershaw, SP

Although a lot of us were scared that Kershaw was in serious decline, Kersh has done his best to silence the doubters. His spin rate has increased and even though his velocity is down, he is still toying with hitters. He has looked absolutely fantastic.

Stock Down

Yes, CT3 and Kiké are cold. I get it.

Corey Seager, SS

Corey Seager was on the opposite end of this list last week which is a little disheartening. Seager really has looked lost at the plate as of plate, posting a .419 OPS and 21 wRC+ over the past week. Let’s hope he turns it around for the sake of the offense.

Joc Pederson, OF

It feels pretty strange including Joc on this side of the list considering he has been one of the best offensive players for the club this season, but his last week and a half have been been dreadful: .422 OPS and 17 wRC+. Joc’s approach is still there and the peripherals look great: .194 BABIP against a .239 AVG. This means there is more in the tank. It would surprise me if Joc was on this side of the stocks next week.

Kenta Maeda, SP

It wouldn’t be surprising if Kenta Maeda found himself in the bullpen sooner rather than later. He has not looked great this season whatsoever. He is averaging somewhere around 5 innings a start which doesn’t provide the length needed with a below-average bullpen to back him up. There really are no peripheral numbers that say Maeda is in for positive regression which is a little scary.

Final Thoughts

Any of the guys mentioned could find themselves on the opposite end of the stocks next week, let’s just hope they don’t!

Is there anyone you see on the verge of breaking out or anyone having poor plate appearances? Let us know.

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My name is Daniel Preciado and I am 18 years old. I am a sophomore Sport Analytics major and Cognitive Science and Economics dual minor at Syracuse University. When I am not in New York, I live in Whittier, California --- not too far from Chavez Ravine. I am pretty old-school for being an analytics guy and I will always embrace debate. Also, Chase Utley did absolutely nothing wrong.

8 Comments

Perhaps the Dodgers should remove Seager from batting 2nd(I know replace him with ???) until he wakes up from his malaise or “he doesn’t look lost” at the plate. i would replace Seager with Verdugo. You have two guys Turner and Seager(back-to-back) that are automatic outs in front of Bellinger and the opposing teams will Stop pitching strikes to him. My reasoning for Pederson strugging is when the opposing teams start consecutive LHPs, Joc might as well be on the injured-list or take a vacation. As I’ve stated in other posts, Pederson will be off from(starting/batting lead-off) April 30-May 6 as the opposing teams have stacked LHPs(Pomeranz,Bumgarner,off-day,Lauer,Lucchesi,Margevicius,Fried). The blueprint to minimize the Dodgers offense(Pederson – 10 homeruns) is have him sit on the bench. Don’t forget automatic-outs Pollack(he’s injured now, elbow infection), Taylor,Barnes/Martin and pitchers spot.

Well said, and Andy and puppet boy Roberts are just plain dumb, stupid and ignorant if they don’t see the current problems with this roster makeup. With the exceptions right now of Bellinger and Verdugo, the Dodgers ARE NO MATCH WHATSOEVER against the good LHP in this league, period!

We all know Joc does not have the best history against LHP but remember, ya can’t play if ya don’t play, as Vinny often said. IDK but of course , Joc sitting against these LHP and it looks like it will continue that way for a while, but if I were Joc, I would want to be traded to a team that just might give him another chance against lefties.

I am repeating this from another article on today’s home page. Put Urias in the starting rotation; move Maeda to the BP; Seager will come around eventually; CT3 bares watching as he is wildly inconsistent; Rocky Gale should be selling ice cream cones; the loss of Pollock might be a saving grace if we can bring up someone who can hit steadily and has speed; the team would be better without AF. Go Blue!!!

Ok Id just give Seager a couple of days off–Send Taylor down—-bring up D J Peters–play Matt Beatty off the bench in place of Taylor–Play Verdugo everyday bat 2nd or even lead off–LHP starters? Kike- Verdugo- Turner-Cody-Freese-Beatty–Peters- Martin—–Muncy & Joc come off the bench and Seager can pinch hit–If Barnes stays at 210 or 215–send him down and bring up Will Smith—————Thats the offense—-period

I just did the offense—Here is the pitching
Rotation—Kershaw-Ryu-Buehlor-Hill-Urias
Bullpen—Jansen–Maeda-Strippling-Baez-Floro-Kelly-Alexander-Yimi
All of the starters will go 6 at least–and if Roberts uses the bullpen correct it can be very good—Caleb Fergeson–Dustin May and even Tony Gonsolin all could be brought up if ANY of these guys falter—Stop fucking around–I simply have no faith in Roberts–We might still win despite him–Joe Maddon is free in 2020 but he might be too old–I dont know who but we need a good Manager –Period

Hey Ray……….I like your post and agree with your player who starts and plays where movements to maximize our talent. We need to STOP making everything about LH/RH batting matchups so much and settle into a “these are my starters” lineup. Using Verdugo as a starter now, using Freese @ 1st as a starter now, using Urias as a starter now, moving Maeda back to the bullpen again…….these are all the RIGHT moves for this team going forward IMO too. I do not feel as strongly as you do about the negative Roberts comments but I do understand your frustrations with him. Take last night for instance………he is so obsessed with RH/LH pitching versus hitting rotations he makes stupid changes, sometimes they work, most times they do not. He pulled Kike from the game last nite because they had a right hand reliever on the mound………..and he inserted Beatty to pinch hit for Kike………this is not a knock on Beatty but come on………Kike is one of our best contact hitters………..he is more likely to connect with the ball in a late inning situation like that one then Beatty, who was just called up a couple days ago.